This invention is directed in general toward communications interfaces, and in particular, toward a modular telephone connecting apparatus for a multi-occupant dwelling.
Multi-occupant dwelling units, such as an apartment or a dormitory room may have several individuals who would like to have their own telephone connection. Typically, in an apartment, each roommate may occupy a bedroom, and would like to have a private telephone connection to that room. When a new roommate takes up residence in an apartment, upon that roommate""s request, a telephone service technician goes to that apartment and arranges telephone lines according to a requested configuration. This requires several trips to the place as new roommates join or leave the apartment, which is common during college xe2x80x9crushxe2x80x9d days. Each such service technician""s trip to a customer""s location results in increased labor costs for a phone company. Additionally, the customer should wait until the technician configures the phone connection before the connection can be put to use. There is, therefore, a need to improve the art.
In an aspect, this disclosure is directed toward a telephone jack for use in a multi-occupancy dwelling (MOD) or where different telephone connections could be reconfigured without the need for a telephone technician. In the description herein, the term xe2x80x9cjackxe2x80x9d is used to describe a receptacle, whereas in the industry, a combination of a receptacle and a plug is sometimes called a jack. The disclosed jack is similar to the regulation jack (RJ), or it could be a different type of connector.
In another aspect, the disclosed MOD jack has a plurality of selectable connecting points. The MOD jack includes a rotary dial. The rotary dial is connected to at least one set of connection points and further a plurality of connection receptacles. In an embodiment, the set of connection points is a set of gold-plated balls. By rotating the rotary dial to a selected position, a connection may be made with the set of connection points, whereby one of the plurality of connection receptacles is connected to a set of lines, for example, a pair of tip and ring leads that could establish a telephone connection with a central office. In case of a T-1, VOIP or an ISDN connection, it is understood that a set of four, six, or eight wire connections could be made using the same arrangement.
In a further aspect, the disclosure is directed toward a modular MOD jack to connect a plurality of devices or service connections. These could be, for example, digital multiple line key phones, PABX extensions, data transmission units, fax machines, and signaling equipment.
In a yet another aspect, the MOD jack can be configured using a method known to persons of ordinary skill in the art of making modular jacks such as RJ-11 or RJ-45 jacks. Using a selectable dial one may connect the MOD jack with telephone line equipment via wires running into term blocks. The selectable dial can be snapped into place once a selection is made, so that the selected configuration can be preserved until a change could be made to that configuration. This selection and snapping in place is advantageously achieved by using spring loaded gold plated contacts with a friction-locking device between the rotary dial and the second plate. Other methods of creating such electrical connections are also contemplated.